On The Fence
by BranwenOSV
Summary: Jaune has a lot on his mind bogging him down, so Yang decides to give him a helping hand. (Based on an image by Perfilles-Studio).


**A/N: This story was written for a contest by "Perfilles-Studio" on DeviantArt based on his Dragon Slayer (Yang x Jaune) image entitled "Sunset."**

 **I didn't realize the image was called "Sunset" rather than sunrise until well after I wrote out most of this fic, but I decided to keep it like this anyway.**

* * *

Yang was kneeling before her mother, exhausted from a battle she couldn't remember the details of fighting. Raven looked down at her daughter with the same contempt she always had.

"How can you possibly beat Salem?" asked Raven. "You could barely stand a chance against Adam!"

"Shut up!" yelled Yang. "I'll beat Salem and prove I'm not weak!"

"You ARE weak! That's why I never came back!"

"I said SHUT UP!"

Yang got up and tried to throw a left hook at Raven, only to suddenly find herself in bed and punching the air.

 _"Just a dream,"_ thought Yang. Yang sat up and looked over to her scroll, flashing the time at 5:14 A.M. _"Too late to just go back to sleep now. Maybe a little fresh air will help."_

Yang reached for her prosthetic arm lying next to her scroll and attached it to her right elbow, then got out of bed and changed into her usual outfit. She walked quietly out of her room to make sure she didn't wake up anyone else in the lodge. It had been a long night for everyone after they thwarted the attack on Haven Academy by Cinder's people, including her mother. Tonight was likely going to be the only peaceful night of sleep they'd have before packing up and heading to Atlas.

Whenever Yang couldn't sleep or was in a foul mood, she'd usually hop on Bumblebee and go riding around town for a while. Yang headed to the back of the lodge where she left her motorcycle. When she opened the door leading outside, she heard the feint noise of someone talking. Yang looked out and noticed a shadowy figure moving about. Yang couldn't make out who they were exactly because of the dim amount of light outside, but she could have sworn they were holding a weapon.

 _"I think I just saw someone! Could it be somebody trying to ambush us?"_

Yang quietly closed the door behind her to not attract attention, then snuck up on the stranger until she was within range to fire her arm and knock out the unknown visitor if they tried to attack or run away.

"Whoever you are, drop the weapon!" said Yang, aiming her metal arm at the stranger.

"GAH!" shouted the stranger, dropping his sword and nearly tripping over himself. The scream was a bit high-pitched and didn't sound like it would come from somebody menacing. Yang walked up to the mysterious figure and realized it was actually Jaune.

"Oh, it was just you, Jaune!" Yang grabbed Jaune's hand and helped him back to his feet, feeling awkward about scaring the poor boy. "Sorry about that! I didn't think anyone else would be up at this hour."

"It's all right," said Jaune, brushing some of the dust off his clothes. "I guess we can't be too cautious with everything going on right now."

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing out here anyway?"

"I was trying to-"

"Okay Jaune," said a familiar gentle voice, "time for your next lesson."

Yang rubbed her eyes to make sure she was in reality. She couldn't have just heard the voice of someone they had lost nearly a year ago.

"Am I dreaming again or did I just hear Pyrrha?" said Yang.

"You're not dreaming," said Jaune, sighing as he went over to pick up his scroll and showed Yang one of the training videos left by Pyrrha.

"I take it you've been doing this for a while?" asked Yang.

"Nearly every morning since Ruby and my team started our journey."

"And it shows. I think you've improved a lot since Beacon."

"You're just saying that to cheer me up. If I really improved, I wouldn't have almost gotten Weiss killed just like..."

Jaune gripped his fists and can feel his eyes already water up. It was still hard for him to ever think about Pyrrha. Not wanting to upset Jaune further and start the day on a sour note, Yang decided to quickly change the subject.

"Anyway," said Yang, "in case you were wondering, I can't get back to sleep, so I was going to go on a bike ride to clear my head."

"I'll let the others know in case they ask," said Jaune, deciding to call it a night and head back inside. Yang felt bad about interrupting his training session and wanted to cheer him up, so spontaneously came up with an idea to make him feel better.

"Hey Jaune, how about you join me? I bet it'll be good for ya."

Jaune paused to think about Yang's proposal. He definitely wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon, and he'd never experience a motorcycle ride before. Maybe it would help clear his head from all the lingering thoughts he had about Pyrrha.

"Sure, why not?"

The pair headed to the front of the lodge with Bumblebee. Yang put on her helmet and revved up the engine as Jaune sat directly behind her.

"Make sure you hang on real tight, okay?" said Yang. Jaune looked to his sides wondering what he was supposed to hang on.

"So, do I grab the sides of the bike or-"

Jaune was cut off by Yang twisting the handlebar and starting up the bike, causing Jaune to suddenly wrap his arms around Yang's waist. Before Jaune could even ask Yang if that's what he was supposed to do, they were already taking off down the road. Jaune was nearly scared for his life as he felt the wind blow against his hair and thought he would lose his grip on Yang, but after a couple of minutes into the ride, he somewhat calmed down and was enjoying the thrill.

"Where exactly do you go on these bike rides of yours?" yelled Jaune, unsure if Yang could hear him over the sounds of the engine.

"Random directions, really," said Yang. "I just find a path and keep riding until I feel like heading home. Sometimes if I find a good place to relax, I stay and watch the sun rise or set. In fact, you wanna see something cool?"

"I guess!" replied Jaune, hoping the 'something cool' wasn't a place he'd regret seeing.

#

About twenty minutes into their ride, Yang and Jaune were in the outer reaches of Mistral. On their right was the forest with the dirt road leading back to the city, and on their left, was the small barrier separating the road from the cliff leading into the ocean.

"Our destination is just up ahead!" said Yang. Jaune looked up and saw a series of rustic old buildings by the cliffside, sticking out like a big ugly eyesore compared to the rest of the scenery.

"What is that place?" asked Jaune.

"It's an abandoned Dust factory. I've seen these things plenty of times. My dad says a lot of them get abandoned thanks to the Schnee Dust Company putting them out of work. Don't they look so hauntingly beautiful?"

"Those two words do not go together."

Yang stopped the bike by the side of the road in front of the old factory. The entire factory was surrounded by a giant chain-link fence with a now pointless sign that warned of high voltage running through. Yang shook the fence a bit to test how sturdy it was for climbing.

"Ever climbed a fence before?" asked Yang.

"Wait a minute!" said Jaune. "You're not thinking of going inside, are you?"

"Nah. Tried that once; place was full of dust, cobwebs, and some kind of weird smell. I'm just heading to the top to watch the sunrise."

Yang gripped the fence and quickly climbed to the top bar, turning around and sitting down to face Jaune below.

"Care to join me?" asked Yang.

"I'll give it a shot."

Jaune was thankful he had his gloves on so the thin metal wires didn't cut through his skin. Jaune took a deep breath and slowly climbed the fence, another first in his life. Yang reached down and helped pull Jaune up the rest of the way. Jaune took a seat on the metal bar facing the opposite way, trying not to think about the possible scenario of losing his seating and taking a plunge to the ground below. As Jaune was trying to remain steady, Yang grabbed the metal bar and leaned all the way back, nearly perpendicular with the fence.

"Look at us," said Yang. "The two of us together to watch the sun rise over Mistral. Almost romantic, don't you think?"

"Is that why you brought me out here?" asked Jaune.

Yang pulled herself back up and inched a bit closer to Jaune, placing her hand on top of Jaune's. Now was the time for Yang to go into "serious" mode.

"I brought you out here because I can tell Pyrrha's death is still taking a heavy toll on you, and it wouldn't have done you good to say it back at the lodge with everyone else there. So...talk to me, Jaune."

Yang could feel Jaune's grip on the fence tense up as he sighed.

"It's almost all I ever think about," said Jaune. "I keep thinking back to our final moments together and how I could have saved her if I wasn't so weak and stupid."

Jaune held his other hand to his eyes. No matter what his other friends kept insisting, he still felt responsible for what ultimately happened to Pyrrha.

"All year long, I vowed to get better. I wasn't going to let the same fate happen to anyone else. But last night I almost did, and now I feel like I have no idea what I'm even doing anymore."

Jaune made a fist with his hand and wanted to bang against something, but the only options were either the metal fence he might cut himself on or his thigh, which wasn't a better option. Yang gripped tighter to Jaune's hand to get his attention.

"You're probably going to get sick of hearing this," said Yang, "but you're not stupid, Jaune. Quirky, but not stupid. As for being weak...none of us were strong enough to stop what happened at Beacon. I meant what I said about you improving. You finally got your semblance to kick in and saved Weiss' life! You should feel proud just for that!"

Jaune wiped the traces of tears in his eyes and smiled. In retrospect, compared to what happened at Beacon, he did at least save someone close to him.

"Yeah," said Jaune. "I guess I did improve in that aspect."

"See? You are getting better, Jaune! So no more moping about how weak you think you are! Instead of feeling bad about how much you could have done, feel good about what you've been able to accomplish so far!"

Hearing Yang's motivational talk was starting to clear the dread that was building up inside Jaune.

"You're right!" said Jaune. "Maybe my year wasn't as awful as I've been making it out to be!" Jaune leaned back a bit and glanced at Yang's robotic arm. "I definitely shouldn't be complaining compared to what you've been through."

Noticing Jaune was looking at her prosthetic, Yang held up her arm to catch a slight reflection of herself on her arm. It was a hard year for Yang having to overcome her fear of getting back into the foray of hunting and dealing with Blake's absence.

"Hey man," said Yang, "I'll take losing an arm over losing a teammate. As much as I would want my original arm back, at least that was able to get replaced. No one's going to be able to replace Pyrrha."

"Someone has to eventually."

Yang was taken aback by Jaune's sudden response.

"What was that?" asked Yang, making sure she didn't accidentally mishear him. "Did you say someone will eventually?"

Jaune suddenly covered his mouth and turned away from Yang, feeling mortified that he just blurted out his inner-most thoughts

"Never mind, it's stupid," said Jaune quickly.

"Stupid or not," said Yang, slightly agitated at Jaune dodging the question, "I want to know what you were just talking about."

Jaune thought about jumping off the fence and running away as fast as possible, but he knew he'd be caught in a heartbeat. Yang felt Jaune's grip tense up again. Whatever Jaune had on his mind, Yang could tell he was going to regret having to confess to Yang.

"Promise not to judge me if I tell you?" asked Jaune.

"Depends on what you're talking about," replied Yang, not filling Jaune with any hope.

"Yang please, you have to swear not to think I'm a jerk for what I'm about to say."

Despite her father always teaching Yang the importance of forgiveness towards others, Yang was usually quick to anger with people and took a while to forgive and forget when she felt like she had been crossed. Still, Jaune wasn't usually the type of guy to be an outright jerk to people, so Yang was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt this time.

"All right," said Yang, holding up her free hand. "I officially declare this place a judgement free zone."

"Thank you."

Jaune took a deep breath and took a moment to think about what he had to say.

"Lately I've been thinking about my future; what I'm going to do once this whole journey we're on is over and we go back to being regular huntsmen or whatever. Before this whole thing even got started, my plan was to be a huntsman like my dad and...well..."

Jaune gripped both of his hands on the fence as he tried to get the hardest part of his thoughts out.

"Eventually...I want to have a family."

As soon as Jaune mentioned that word, Yang suddenly realized what Jaune meant by replacing Pyrrha.

"I know where this is going," said Yang. "This is about finding someone else to fall in love with, isn't it?" Jaune closed his eyes and nodded.

"I'm not sure whether it's right or not to move on and find someone else," said Jaune. "I mean, I'm not even in my twenty's yet! I still have a whole life ahead of me, God willing! Pyrrha...won't be the only love of my life...will she?"

Jaune kept his eyes closed, afraid to see how Yang was going to react.

"Now I know why you wanted this to be a judgement free zone," said Yang.

"You promised you wouldn't judge!" yelled Jaune, sounding intensely stressed.

"Relax, Jaune," said Yang, trying to sound soothing and calm. "Some people might think it's wrong, but if you want my opinion, if you fall for someone else or they fall for you, I'd say go for it."

Jaune opened his eyes and looked at Yang as if to ask if she really meant it. Yang looked up at the night sky, thinking about the other man she knew in a similar situation.

"My father went through something like this; he's been married twice. First was to my mom, and you saw what kind of person she turned out to be. The second time was to Ruby's mom, and it wasn't until she passed away that I even found out she wasn't my original mother. Honestly, I question what my dad saw in Raven in the first place. Anyway, my point is you're not some kind of heartless jerk if that's what you're worried about."

Yang held up Jaune's hand and looked into his eyes to convey how much she meant what she was saying in case Jaune had doubts about this statement too.

"And I'd like to think Pyrrha would want you to be happy, no matter who you ended up with. I mean, remember how hard you were crushing on Weiss back at Beacon?"

"How could I forget?" said Jaune. "Pyrrha even gave me advice on how to approach Weiss."

"I rest my case. You'll find someone eventually, Jaune, and when you do, don't be held back over whatever guilt you might have about Pyrrha."

"I'll try, but...it just feels really, really hard to move on."

Even though Yang made the comparison between Jaune and her father, there was one major difference. Raven walked out on her father and strained their relationship, whereas Pyrrha was unjustly taken away from everyone who loved her. It wasn't going to be easy simply getting over Pyrrha, but Yang wanted to encourage Jaune somehow. Yang looked down from where they were sitting and suddenly had an idea.

"Look down," said Yang.

"What?" asked Jaune.

"Look at the ground."

Jaune stared at the ground, a thin patch of grass covering the otherwise dirt floor.

"Okay," said Jaune. "Now what?"

"How high are we right now? Like, twenty feet maybe? What if I told you to jump right now?"

"I'd be worried about making an awkward landing. It'd be worse if we didn't have any aura to protect ourselves from a freak injury."

"Let's say you had no aura. Let's say we were, like...fifty feet high! Would you still jump?"

"Heck no! Besides, why would we need to jump? We could just climb down!"

"No climbing allowed! The only way down is to jump off, right here and now!"

"Absolutely not!" said Jaune, wondering where Yang was going with this weird line of questioning.

"I don't blame you," said Yang, swinging her and Jaune's arm out as if getting ready to leap. "Taking a big leap forward like that would scare most anybody. Are you going to land safely? What happens if you break an ankle or worse? But eventually, you going to have to do it, unless you'd rather just sit here for the rest of your life."

Yang held onto Jaune and once again leaned all the way back, putting herself upside down on the fence. One tiny slip and Yang would take a twenty-foot plunge, yet she was showing zero fear over that possible outcome.

"I was in a position like this a year ago," said Yang. "I wanted to just stay home and forget my life as a huntress. I wanted to give up. I was just sitting on the fence - or rather couch - letting the days pass by, content with living like that the rest of my life. But doing that meant letting my sister and my disbanded teammates down."

Yang kicked her legs forward and sat right back up on the fence.

"So finally, I jumped off the fence and made my decision to come here, and I'm glad I did. Besides, do you know how seriously sore your butt would get having to sit on a place like this for so long?"

Hearing Yang mention sore butts did remind Jaune that his behind wasn't feeling comfortable sitting on a metal rod for such a long period of time. Like Yang said, eventually he'd have to get off this fence.

"You know Yang," said Jaune, "I have to say you give some really good life advice. I know we're the same age, but you sound like someone who has lived a lot longer than I have."

"You calling me some kind of old hag?" replied Yang.

"No, but...while I'm being honest..."

Yang could see Jaune's face turning red.

"I kind of see you as the team mom of our group."

"The team mom?" said Yang, perplexed as to whether that was a compliment or not.

"What I mean is, our group is like one big family, and you're the mother we can always count on to cheer us up or tell us what we need to hear when we need it the most."

Jaune went back to looking at the ground, feeling worse for saying that than he did about Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry if that sounds really weird."

Yang closed her eyes and smiled, wrapping her hand around Jaune.

"That's actually one of the sweetest things anyone ever said to me."

The two smiled and continued to hold hands until the sun started to peak out over the horizon to bring about the new day, changing the colors of the night sky into an array of yellow and green.

"Wow," said Jaune. "The sunrise looks amazing."

"It sure does," said Yang. "We should get back before everyone gets worried about us. I take it you want to climb down?"

Jaune turned around to face the same side as Yang. Jaune was ready to climb down safely, but thinking back to what Yang was talking about, decided he wanted to take a risk.

"Actually...I want to try jumping," said Jaune.

"If you insist!" said Yang, holding back to let Jaune go first. Upon looking down on the ground again, Jaune was getting second thoughts about taking such a big leap right away.

"But...will you hold my hand just in case?"

Yang smiled and grabbed Jaune's hand.

"Of course I will," said Yang.

On Yang's signal, the two of them jumped off together hand in hand. Yang made a safe landing, while Jaune tumbled a bit and landed hard on his right knee. Yang helped Jaune back up as he rubbed his knee and wiped the dirt stain off his jeans.

"Are you okay?" asked Yang.

"A bit sore," said Jaune, "but that went better than expected. Thanks for all your help, Yang."

"That's what mothers are for."

The two got back on Bumblebee and headed back to the lodge, ready to take on the day ahead.


End file.
